To Defeat a Demon
by forteryk
Summary: Naruto kills Sasuke during an attempt to bring him back to Konoha. He gets his treatment as an outcast from even friends. He leaves in order to learn to suppress Kyuubi. NO YAOI.
1. Ch 1 The Encounter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (period ->) .

-- Chapter 1: The Encounter --

Naruto and Kakashi stood side-by-side as they faced him, the one they ahd been chasing all these years. They looked ragged and worn, cuts and bruises showing. Sasuke looked at them calmly, unruffled in his level two cursed-seal state.

"Sasuke, come back to Konoha," Naruto begged. 'Why can't he just give in. Damn this is hard, neither me or Kakashi can use powerful jutsus. If we do, we run the risk of killing him'

Sasuke had no intention of going easy on them. 'If they are going to get in my way, then I will kill them'

"What's the matter Naruto, are you getting tired already? You never were any match for me"

Kakashi said, "Naruto we need to take out his cursed seal transformation. If we manage to destroy his wings it will weaken him, without doing any actual harm." Naruto nodded, and placed hands together and create five shadow clones, yelling "Kage-bunshin no jutsu"

Sasuke laughed, "This again, Naruto?" Naruto ignored him, and set about creating three Rasengans. "So you are finally starting to get serious?" Sasuke smirked. "Too late"

'If Naruto manages to pull this off, I'll be able to use it, but if I miss it could be deadly for either of them,' Kakashi thought. As Sasuke charged, Naruto had four of the clones move behind Sasuke. Sasuke turned around, ready to destroy them -- and he did. "Rasengan!" naruto cried as he thrust his arm forward. Sasuke dodged and grabbed Naruto by the throat, smiling. To his surprise, Naruto returned the smile.Kakashi's mangekyou sharingan destroyed Sasuke's wings, sending them to another dimension.Kakashi fell out of pure exhaustion, he could not use that technique easily. He looked to see Sasuke's demon-like form receded into the cursed seal.

"I'm impressed, but even in my weaker form, you are not strong enough to defeat me," Sasuke said. Naruto created another clone. They immediately began forming a Rasengan.

"Again? This has to be some kind of a joke." Sasuke gripped one wrist, and electricity began forming in his palm. The two Narutos rushed at Sasuke.

"Chidori"

"Rasengan"

After the blast, Naruto held a kunai to Sasuke's throat. 'As I thought, the clone's Rasengan would distract him.'

"Sasuke, it's time to return to Konoha."

"What are you going to do? Kill me? After all, that's all that you'll be able to do with that kunai. You don't have the guts."

'Damn! It's true, I cannot knock him out without giving him a chance to counter. I'll just have to hope.' "No Sasuke," Naruto said, pulling away from Sasuke, dropping his guard. "I'm going to ask you to come back."

"Hah," Sasuke laughed, "You really are naive Naruto. I'm going to end this now." Sasuke began gathering electricity again, but this time stronger, with more hate. Naruto closed his eyes. 'This is it,' Naruto thought. 'I wanted to say bye to Iruka-sensei, and Sakura, especially Sakura. I wouldn't even mind seeing Jiraiya and Tsunade one last time. I would say bye to Kakashi, but I can't risk him doing anything.' Naruto braced himself for it.

Time seemed to slow. Naruto was anticipating the blast, thinking of all the good memories he had. At least he had some time where he was happy. Even with this thoughts of detachment, Naruto could feel it forming in his hand, against his will. The Futon Rasengan. 'NO KYUUBI!' Naruto's hand unwillingly thrust forward, and Naruto felt the wind graze against his skin, giving a burning sensation. Naruto kept his eyes closed, until he could no longer hold them that way. When he opened them he saw Kakashi standing over Sasuke's body.

"Naruto! What have you done?" With the last of his strength, Naruto got up and looked at the body. Half of Sasuke was gone, just completely blown away. One tear escaped from Naruto's eye as he said "Brother." Then he passed out.

--

Naruto put on his black clothes, his mourning clothes. As he walked toward the place where the funeral was to be held, he heard the whispering. Despite the fact that it was only Kakashi and Naruto who originally knew the true events, word spread fast. He couldn't be sure whether it was just rumors or the truth. Either way, it wasn't good.

He arrived at the site two hours before the funeral began. Naruto could hardly believe that Sasuke was gone, for good this time. Even more, it was his fault that Sasuke was dead. 'If only I could have controlled the nine-tails. Maybe the villagers are right, maybe I really am a monster'

"You can't keep beating yourself up about it," said Kakashi, walking up.

"Kakashi-sensei, if it wasn't for me, Sasuke would --"

"Stop! Anyone else would have done the same thing in your position, Kyuubi or no Kyuubi."

"I couldn't even control him. I'm dangerous to be around."

"As long as no one tries to --"

Kakashi stopped when he saw Sakura coming. Her eyes were already red. Her hair was a mess. She looked as if she hadn't slept in two days. 'This is all my fault,' thought Naruto.

People arrived either one at a time or in small groups. The whole while Naruto felt their eyes piercing him like knives. A large number showed, people who Naruto didn't even know. The rest of the rookie nine were there, as well as Gai's team.

When the program started, Tsunade thanked everyone for coming to honor a great ninja, as well as one who died in battle. As she said this, all eyes were on Naruto. Some told of hate and anger, but mostly fear. The only ones willing to stand by him were Kakashi and Iruka. After Tsunade finished, Kakashi and Iruka each said things about Sasuke, honoring and praising him.

After it finished the crowd dwindled, and most of the mourners left. Only team seven stayed for longer. Sakura was crying into Kakashi's arms as he whispered, "It'll be okay." Eventually only Naruto was left. He stayed there, just wishing that he could talk to Sasuke one last time. When night fell, Naruto was still there. He was there for days until his body could take no more, and he collapsed.

Naruto awoke to a pink-haired doctor looking over him, checking his status. "Sakura," he began, "I'm sorry." She ignored his words and just kept on working, jotting down things on a clipboard. She finished and started walking out. "Sakura?" A tear came out of her eye, and she walked out the door.

'Damn it, she won't even talk to me or acknowledge that I'm even there.' Naruto got up and left his room, there was no reason for him to even be there. He went to the Ichiraku ramen bar and ordered some. Teuchi normally would have asked what was wrong, but he knew exactly what was wrong. He served the ramen and left Naruto there to eat.

Naruto made his way home after finishing the ramen. He looked around at his messy apartment, almost disgusted by the horrible condition it was in. He made his way to bed and put on his ridiculous looking pajamas. Usually they gave him a laugh before bed, but not tonight.

When he awoke the next day, Naruto decided to get flowers for Sakura, in an attempt to bring their friendship back together. He went into the Yamanaka flower shop and got a bouquet of purple hyacinth flowers. No words were spoken as he ordered the flowers, besides Ms. Yamanaka telling him the price. He paid and left, heading towards Sakura's home. She had moved out by the time he returned with Jiraiya, so he made his way to her apartment, on the second floor.

Naruto knocked and waited for Sakura to answer. She came to the door and looked through the eye-hole. "Go away Naruto."

"Sakura, please?" he begged.

"I said go away demon. You're a monster." Sakura thought of all the words that would hurt Naruto the most and just let them out, screaming at him through the door. Naruto set the flowers down in front of her door and left. He was used to those words, but not from Sakura, or anyone that he cared about. It hurt him so much more to hear her say those words than any villager. He went back to his apartment with his head down the entire way.

He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling for hours, just thinking. 'I need to learn to control kyuubi, to hold him back. I need somewhere to train, somewhere to become strong enough to hold him at bay.' He thought about leaving, weighing the pros and cons. 'Sakura doesn't want me here. But maybe she just needs time to heal, she's hurt right now. You killed the man she loved, you think she's going to just get over it?' Naruto continued to debate with himself, until he finally won.

He was going to leave. He packed only the most basic of supplies. He left his home at night and visited Sasuke's grave, one last time. "Goodbye," he paused, "Brother." After that he made his way to the gate that had no guards on duty. 'I wonder what Sasuke was thinking as he left? if it was anything like this?' He kept on walking until he was gone from sight.


	2. Ch 2 Searching

Disclaimer: Naruto does not own me, or vice-versa.

Notes: A couple of reviews are asking if this is a NaruSaku. At this point I'm going to have to say yes. I've changed the formatting to remove tabs, I don't think that they are necessary.

-- Chapter 2: Searching --

Sakura woke up to a loud banging on her apartment door. She went to the door to see Kakashi through the eye-hole. She opened the door and Kakashi immediately asked, "Have you seen Naruto?"

"Not for the last two days, why?"

"Shit!" And with that Kakashi dashed away. 'What was that about?' Sakura wondered. She showered and put on her usual clothes. She walked to Tsunade's office. She was puzzled by Kakashi's urgency that morning in finding Naruto.

Sakura reached the Hokage's office in the tower. Tsunade was sitting with her hands holding her head. Her index fingers were rubbing her temples. 'She looks ten years older, or ten years less young, however that works.'

"Sensei what's wrong?"

"It's Naruto, he's disappeared. Nobody is really sure where he went or why."

Sakura paled. 'Oh god,' she thought. "There needs to be a team to go get him back."

"I already have a team going to find him, but I'm not sure they'll be able to --"

"I want on that team."

"Other than the fact that you are on his team, why should you be assigned to this operation? Even though Naruto may only be a genin, it will take a team of jounin to capture him."

Sakura swallowed. "I think it's my fault that he left."

Tsunade looked up at her with an expression that showed both anger and confusion. "Explain."

Sakura paused, choosing her words carefully. 'It's not easy to explain why you acted so horribly to one of your friends.' "Well, I, uh, I'm really upset about Sasuke's death and, uh, I was hard on Naruto. He tried to apologize, and I, I," she paused again, "called him a demon."

Tsunade's eyes turned fierce. "How could you have been so stupid? You think you feel pain right now? You think you're upset? Do you have any idea what Naruto has to be going through? Can you even imagine what it feels like to be at fault for your best friend's death? When he most need someone to care for him, you call him a demon!"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Sakura fought her urge to cry, she knew she had been a bitch. She knew it was all her fault, but she had to hold herself together.

"Under usual circumstances I would not give you the mission you wanted for your mistake, but right now you are the best chance we have of convincing Naruto to come back. Prepare to leave immediately, you will have to catch up with Kakashi."

---

It took them three days just to find out what direction Naruto went. He had employed several tricks in order to delay them and throw them off. Of course he sent clones in multiple directions. He had additionally put multiple clones in one direction, to throw off Kakashi's Ninkens' smell, at least according to Pakkun. He even left pieces of cloth from his clothing in directions that his clones went, which technically shouldn't have been possible unless he gave it to them from the start, otherwise it would have been dispelled along with the clone. Since it had taken them two days just to find out that he was missing, Naruto had gotten a five-day head start.

After nine days the group, comprised of Kakashi, Gai, Jiraiya, and Sakura, came to the first village that Naruto stopped at, Komura. The village was rather large, and it's likely that it was one of Tsunade's favorites. Mini-casinos lined the streets of the recently built village. Sakura and Kakashi were paired together to search for information about Naruto in the village. As they walked they were amazed by how clean and, for lack of a better word, shiny the place was.

Sakura was losing hope. Very few of the villagers recognized Naruto, and they said that they had seen him four days earlier. They asked if they knew where he went, but nobody knew, it was, after all, a large village. They went to the hotel that Jiraiya chose. Each pair explained their small amount of information, which agreed.

"Perhaps we should just return to Konoha for now." said Jiraiya. Sakura had a shocked look on her face, she couldn't believe what he was saying. 'How could he just give up so easily?'

"He's right," Kakashi continued for him, "We have no way of knowing what direction he went or what he plans on doing. We have a better chance of going back to Konoha, where we will be able to get better information. We can send out word to our towns and our allies asking them to be on the lookout for him, plus we can have him put in missing-nin capture status."

Sakura had a beaten look on her face. She knew he was right, but she wanted to just keep on going. 'If I give up now, will I ever get another chance to find him?' she thought. She submitted, "Alright."

"We'll rest here for tonight, and head back to Konoha in the morning."

---

Three years had passed and they were no closer to finding Naruto. Reports of sightings of him in cities had come in, but whenever they got there, he was gone. Sometimes villagers said they knew where he was going, and they followed the trail, but he was never where they said. Naruto was smart enough to ruin his trail for them. A few hunter-nins had come into contact with him, but none actually came close to catching him. She wasn't surprised, in the book his rank was genin and there was a reasonably high reward for his capture, it seemed to be quick cash. Of course none were ready for his skill level, some even said he found them before they did him, and they were knocked out before they even had a chance.

Every place he went, there were the remains of large battles. Sakura constantly worried that perhaps the Akatsuki had finally captured him, and that the destroyed land was the result of their battle, but every time she received more sighting news of him.

Now Sakura and Kakashi were in Sawason, a village that was in incredible poverty. The only time she had seen something this bad was in the Land of Waves. The homeless lined the unpaved streets. Their water source, a small stream, was brown from the dirty city. Sakura couldn't help but wonder what Naruto was doing in a place like this.

Kakashi had gone to find an inn, as the sun had already set. Sakura went around asking people if they had seen Naruto, showing them the three-year-old picture. The people made a simple deal: they would talk in exchange for money. After having paid several people she still had not come upon any useful information.

Sakura sighed, and began toward the meeting place. She noticed that two people were following her, based upon their footsteps they were male. She sighed once more, this time out of exasperation. She went to the first empty alley she could find, she did not want to cause a commotion for the villagers. 'I wonder how long it will take them to come out. It's unlucky for them that they chose a jounin to pick on,' Sakura thought. She kept on walking further into the alley until finally they showed themselves.

"Look at this pretty girl," one said to the other.

"Yes, very pretty," the other replied.

Sakura examined them closely. They wore blood-red clothes, which she couldn't help but wonder if they came that way. Their faces had piercings everywhere, which made them look rather disgusting. The most disturbing part was their eyes, which were completely black except for the pupil and iris which shined yellow. She was sick of dealing with perverted freaks like these.

"Alright," she said, "You have ten seconds to leave before I kick your ass."

They turned to each other and chuckled a short laugh. "I like it when they get angry, don't you?" The one which did not speak nodded.

"Fine," she said, "It's time for you two to die." She built enough chakra in her hand to send an elephant flying and rushed forward; she thrust her arm at one of them, neither of which had even moved. At the very last second the targeted ninja dodged to the side. Sakura looked at them. 'How did he move so fast,' she thought.

"Oh this one is fierce, and very angry. Perhaps we'll have to convince her to calm down."

Again, Sakura attacked; they both dodged, but this time they went for a counter. Sakura went to block, but their yellow eyes flashed and she could no longer move, her body had been paralyzed. One of them kicked her and she flew back, unable to dodge. Her body hit the ground, still unable to move. 'Oh god,' she thought, 'Kakashi, please find me.' They began walking towards her, both smirking something wicked.

She felt herself being surrounded chakra and grew even more worried, until she felt it's protective nature. The wind grew violent and the two men who before seemed so confident had worried looks on their faces as cuts and gashes wounded their bodies. Each were picked by tornado-like winds and slammed into the walls at incredible speeds. Neither got up.

Sakura looked up to see a figure on top of the building in front of her, standing before the moon. The only thing she had time to make out was his spiked hair before he was gone. She toward the two men and found that their bodies were gone too. A cold shiver of excitement went down her spine.


	3. Ch 3 The test

Disclaimer: Someone besides me owns Naruto. Bom chicka wah wah.

Notes: This story isn't told chronologically, at least not completely. Further chapters may start off earlier, but for the most part that's just this one. I wanted to give an overview of what Naruto's away life was like. This is by far my favorite chapter, so eat up!

-- Chapter 3: The Test --

Naruto trained. He had no other way of learning to control and stop Kyuubi. With the shadow clone method that Kakashi had taught him he grew quickly, but no where near quick enough. Speed, strength, and chakra control were all among the things that he worked on. He had no teacher to teach him jutsus, everything he learned he learned by himself, or by one thousand themselves.

After a little while, Naruto devised a test to determine whether he was in control, and if he could return to Konoha yet. This test was so difficult and so pushing, that it left Naruto unable to train the following day. Today was testing day.

Naruto stood in the field, mentally preparing himself for what was about to occur. He examined the trees, the land, the stream nearby; he was trying to get a firm understanding of the land around him, as he would need every advantage that he could get.

After a few minutes Naruto placed his hands together to form a seal. "Kage bunshin no jutsu." he said. The single clone that was generated looked at Naruto and nodded. Naruto nodded back. This test involved a clone, one singular clone. The clone took its distance and held out it's hand, attempting to form a Rasengan, a Futon Rasengan, in one hand. Naruto, nor his clone, had enough control to form it. Each knew this from the same knowledge.

Naruto began gathering his chakra and allowed small amounts of it to escape his body, forming armor around him. This was his much more advanced form of the Rasengan, but rather than having the intent to destroy, it protected. He had gotten the idea from Kyuubi's own chakra shielding.

The clone was still attempting to form the Futon Rasengan, but was growing much more frustrated. This was just as much the clone's test as it was Naruto's; after all, once gone, the clone's knowledge was Naruto's knowledge. Naruto knew that he did not have much more time left to prepare. He focused chakra in his feet and legs. With the additional chakra his speed doubled, but even that was not enough for him to pass his part of the test.

He put even more chakra in his feet, but with this surplus of chakra he elementally reconstructed it into wind, and placed it beneath the soles of his feet. With his clone training, Naruto had learned to float. While it was only just a few inch hover off the ground, it made him ten times faster than normal, and allowed him to jump twice as high. He had even learned to jump off the air, but it took far too much chakra to be anything close to practical.

The clone had the Rasengan in his hand, but there was no sign of any wind being added yet. Naruto had purposely not trained in doing this for the ability to do this test, he, as of now, had no other way to go about it. Finally, the clone yelled and Naruto knew the test was about to begin. Red chakra began consuming the clone, surrounding it.

Naruto watched as the tails formed, wondering just how much he had progressed the last week. So far the clones had not made any improvements in the previous tests. One tail; two tails; three tails; the fourth began to form, and Naruto was disappointed, but the clone managed to hold it back, and stayed at three tails. Naruto smiled, 'So I am getting stronger.'

Naruto rushed toward to the clone at incredible speeds. A red hand of chakra rushed toward him, but Naruto used the wind to slice it apart, pushing through toward the source. Another hand appeared in it's place, this time reinforced to prevent any wind damage. Naruto jumped, attempting to go over the new hand chasing him, but it was quick enough to follow. He threw shuriken at the source of the chakra, forcing it to block.

He landed a ways back. Neither one had hit the other, but Naruto was already at a disadvantage. Each had used chakra, but the clone had an infinite source. It was time to change the odds a little bit back in his favor. "Kage bunshin no jutsu," he said calmly, trying to retain his focus. Nineteen clones joined him.

Naruto did not need them for any strategy, you couldn't scheme against such a beast. They were simply a distraction, albeit a strong one, allowing the real Naruto to attack the Kyuubi clone. He allowed the clones to do whatever they wanted, he just had to find a way to surprise the beast.

Some of the clones formed Rasengans, two grouped together to form a Futon Rasengan, which Naruto was actually wondering how that would turn out. Most just relied on their speed and wind control, though.

Naruto slipped around behind the main clone, but still maintaining a reasonable distance back. He commanded his clones to rush the red Kyuubi form. While they attacked, he prepared his recently mastered move. The Rasengans slightly penetrated the wicked red chakra, but eventually they wore out against it. Regular and wind attacks did nothing to even reasonably disturb it. The Futon Rasengan had the best luck and blew a wide hole into the chakra armor, even slightly damaging the clone, but it quickly healed and replaced the missing chakra. Unfortunately the powerful attack also got rid of five regular clones.

Naruto's newest jutsu was ready. He created a new shape manipulation to put his wind recomposition into. His arm was surrounded by a jagged sword, filled with wind. While even Orochimaru's Kusangi could not pierce the chakra armor, the wind was sharper than anything.

He flew forward, pushing the limits of all his speed control. The clone turned, but not quick enough to block the upcoming attack. Naruto thrust his arm at the beast, the representation of all his anger, and struck it. The wind sword pierced the armor, and even pierced the clone. Naruto staggered back, expecting victory, but the clone was not finished. It could still heal, even after the massive attack that Naruto had delivered. Normally this clone would have disappeared after the first hit, but a Kyuubi powered clone was clearly stronger than most.

The clone was now horribly angry. It's red chakra flared. A giant red fist swung at Naruto, but he was too worn out to dodge, the last attack had taken too much out of him. He braced for it, and tried to hold his blue chakra armor. The fist hit him at full force and even with the armor he was not able to fully block it. He soared into the air for an instant, before hitting the ground with incredible force. Naruto passed out causing the clone to disappear as well. A smile was on his worn and bloody face; neither he nor his clone passed their test, but each was getting better.

---

Three years after leaving Konoha, Naruto was in Sawason, hunting for two S-Class missing-nin. This is how he managed to live; that is, by getting money from capturing and killing those who were in bingo books. He managed to get his hands on one by defeating a hunter-nin who was after Naruto himself. Naruto laughed when he saw his entry; it made it seem as though capturing him would be a piece of cake. He wasn't surprised when new ninja kept coming to try to capture him. Few recognized him though. When Naruto wasn't training he either wore one of the numerous hunter-nin masks he had won, or he would transform himself, using henge, into someone who looked entirely different. This also happened to be the reason why Naruto was actually able to collect on these rewards without being captured, though he had yet to complete one for Konoha.

The two ninja he was hunting called themselves the Cat Killers, and no not because they killed cats. They were called this for their eyes, which were mysteriously yellow, and had black surrounding the iris instead of the usual white. According to the entry, these two weren't barely S-Class ninja either, they eyes could paralyze the opponent, and nobody who saw it lived long enough to learn how to break it. Their speed was apparently very fast, but Naruto doubted whether it could match his powered up speed. Naruto compared the entries from Konoha's bingo book to those in Suna's and Kiriga's. The entries matched up, all providing mostly the same information, some having more or less on certain subjects. The most important detail that he found was how to find them. Both of them coveted beautiful women.

During the day he questioned the villagers in his henge form, though he quickly found that he had to pay to get any worthwhile words from the villagers. It didn't bother him though. 'The village needs the money, besides the bounty on these two is huge,' he thought. He came upon someone and held up the picture. "Have you seen either of these people?" he asked.

"How much are ya' willing to pay to know?"

Naruto nodded knowingly, already expecting this. He pulled out a few bills and handed them to the ragged man. "This should buy any information that you have."

The man quickly pocketed the money. "Yeah I've seen 'em. They've been in a few bars around here, constantly hounding the women."

"Do you know where they are staying now?"

"No, can't say I do."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks for your help."

The man smiled with crooked teeth, "No problem."

Naruto left, glad to finally have confirmed that the two were there. It was already late, so he created a few clones, which also transformed. The clones each turned into attractive women, looking like a more conservative version of sexy jutsu. He spread the clones out, having them seek out the bars and other likely places to find the two missing-nin. After assigning them their task, he headed to the nearest inn, which was very shabby. The price being charged was ridiculous, but Naruto knew they would do that to outsiders, it was their only form of earning money. The room was nowhere near one-star, with not much more than a bed and a simple bathroom. Their was only a toilet and a run-down grimy sink, no bathtub or shower.

Naruto sighed. He went into the bathroom, or restroom rather, and released his henge. He washed his face off as best as he was able to in such conditions. After that he went to rest on his bed, but he couldn't sleep yet; he had to wait until one of the clones spotted the two ninja. After half-an-hour he was growing impatient, so he took a food ration out of his pack and began eating it. It wasn't very good tasting. All of the food was dry, and the only thing to drink was water. Right now Naruto wanted a good serving of Ichiraku's Ramen.

One of the clones dispelled itself; Naruto examined his new memories. Apparently the clone had found the two 'Cat Killers,' but they didn't go after his clone, instead they went after a pink-headed girl. Naruto immediately identified this girl as Sakura. 'She must be assuming these are just run-of-mill perverts. Shit!' Naruto dashed out the window and onto the roof, rushing to where she was. He arrived just in time to see her go flying, but she wasn't getting up. 'Is she conscious? Is she even alive?' Naruto enhanced his hearing and heard her heartbeat, as well as her breaths, but aside from autonomic body functions she wasn't moving. 'Shit! She's either knocked out or paralyzed.'

Naruto began complex techniques he had learned during his past few years of training. He sent his chakra away from his body, but not just a little bit. He sent it to Sakura, and formed his armor around it. It took an enormous amount of focus to control it that far away, even though the distance was only around 20 feet. He had no choice though, there was no other way to protect her from what he was about to do.

He released even more chakra, changing it into wind. He created the equivalent of wind knives, which were invisible to naked eye. He sent them forward, faster than even he could move. The damage was quick and powerful. Their bodies were being torn up, but they still stood, managing to somehow prevent them from hitting vital points. 'It must be their damn eyes.'

'Fine,' he mused. 'I'll just use that.' He once again used his chakra, but this time he created a powerful, deadly tornado. The two may have been quick, but this was faster. It ripped their bodies from the ground. Naruto focused, changing the wind from pulling to pushing. They flew against the brick wall. After neither moved, Naruto turned his attention to the girl. She had either regained consciousness or the paralysis wore off. He looked at Sakura's features. He pink hair was the same as always, still showing off her forehead. Her skin was smooth and shining in the moonlight. He had always admired her, and still did.

Her head turned in his direction and she faced him, looking up. Naruto performed an earth technique, taking the bodies into the ground, and dashed away. Once outside the village Naruto performed another earth technique; both the bodies rose out of the ground. Naruto created two clones, and assigned each one to carry a body. He had each clone, as well as himself, use wind chakra beneath their feet. This way they would go fast and their footsteps would not be left. It certainly made any form of tracking hard.

As they left the village, the only thing Naruto could think about was how much he wanted to stop and just stay there. To talk to Sakura, to return to Konoha. 'I can't though. I still don't have control over Kyuubi. He may only have one tail, but there's no telling what he would do in a life or death situation. I must maintain my resolve. Only once I can stop all the tails will I return.'

---

Four months later, a hunter-nin walked into Konoha carrying the body of none other than Uzumaki Naruto. The guards' faces had delightfully amusing looks on them. The hunter-nin was sure that he would never forget that look. He walked up to them, both of which had a look of utter awe as they examined the hunter-nin. 'He took down Naruto?' they both simultaneously thought.

"I'm here to collect the bounty for Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uh right, right away. I'll take you to the Hokage's office, she'll want to know about this for sure."

The hunter-nin nodded. His mask was much like many of the ANBU masks, it had an animal painted on it. Though the animal that was chosen was the most intriguing part, for it was a fox. As they walked the stares from people were incredible. They had not seen this kid in three-and-a-half years. They wondered at how he had finally been caught. ANBU members were already following the hunter-nin. They couldn't allow Naruto to escape yet again, and none of them had any idea what the hunter-nin's skill level was.

The guard lead him up the stairs of the Hokage tower. Finally after what seemed like forever they reached her office. The guard knocked on the door. "What?" came a very annoyed voice, "This better not be something about that damn water problem again." The guard ignored her complaint and opened the door, letting the hunter-nin in. The ANBU team followed suit.

Tsunade's mouth hung open when she saw Naruto in the hunter-nin's arms. 'Just who is this guy she wondered?'

"I'm here to collect the bounty for Uzumaki Naruto, though I'm not entirely sure why you're so surprised. He is listed in the bingo book after all."

"Yes of course," she responded, trying to control herself. "First off, I'll have to have him secured, because he has managed to escape for quite a while."

"That much trouble from a genin?" the hunter-nin asked rhetorically. The ANBU team took the unconscious Naruto from the hunter-nin, and immediately secured his limbs with wire. They left the room silently. Tsunade prepared the bounty for the hunter-nin, and was about to hand it over, but she paused.

"Is there a problem?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, it's just that it's hard to believe that he was finally captured. I have a request."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to know who could best Naruto at battle. I'd like to see your face."

The hunter-nin nodded. He put his face down and removed his mask, placing it at his side. He lifted his head up, and Tsunade examined him. His hair was black and his face had many scars on it. His eyes were the most defining characteristic though, they shone a bright blue. Tsunade nodded, "Thank you," she said, slightly disappointed.

The man nodded, and a smile began to form on his lips. He began to count. "Five. Four." Tsunade looked at him and quickly examined for any danger that may be present, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "Three. Two." His grin grew wider, and Tsunade wondered just what was going on.

"One." With that the doors to the office broke open and the ANBU team rushed in.

"Hokage-sama! Uzumaki Naruto has escaped! We had him in custody and he just disappeared!" Tsunade's face was even more shocked than when she first saw Naruto. The ANBU team turned to the man in the room.

At blinding speeds the hunter-nin moved around the room knocking out each of the people on the ANBU team before returning to stand in front of Tsunade. "Just who are you?" she asked.

A puff of smoke appeared around the man, and a different voice came out of it. "Sorry baa-chan, but I just hate interrogations."

Her chin just about hit the floor as she recognized Naruto's voice. Yes, it had grown more deep and was slightly different, but she knew it anywhere. The smoke cleared and with her face still just as screwed up she looked at Naruto. He had gotten even taller, now standing at six-foot-two. His hair was still just as goofy, short and spiked. His whiskers had faded and barely even visible. The thing that surprised her the most was how manly he looked, because in her memory he was just a round-faced child. His clothes were the same as always though, a mix of black and orange. Luckily though, the orange had become even less, just one small stripe going down on each sleeve of his jacket. Even his pants had no orange, and were pure black.

"Na-Na-Naruto," she stuttered. She collected herself, once again. "What have you been doing! Where did you go! Why did you leave!" she demanded the answers, she didn't ask.

"Training," he said simply.

"Obviously training, but why and for what purpose."

"Let me put it this way: nobody will ever see Kyuubi again. I have complete control over him and his chakra."

"Is that it? You left because of Kyuubi? You idiot! Do you have any idea how much we worked to get you back?"

"One at a time Tsunade-sama. But to answer both of your questions, yes. Kyuubi was dangerous, looking back know I didn't even know anywhere near how dangerous he could be compared to my knowledge now. And I know you worked to get me back, I was working twice as hard to escape every time a team came for me. Not to mention, what's with the bingo book entry?" He held up the book on the right page to emphasize his point. "Surely you could have given them more of a chance by putting me at jounin level, or maybe including some of my skills. Speaking of which, I need to get promoted soon."

"Naruto, you just got back. There's no need to hurry. You have plenty of time, besides we don't even know if you qualify to be a jounin."

"I have all necessary skills, I made sure of that. Learning to elementally recompose another nature was a bitch. And if you consider all my captures and kills in the bingo book then I have more than enough experience. And let me guess, everyone else on the rookie nine has already been promoted to jounin? Right?"

"Well, yes, but like I said Naruto, you don't need to hurry. You've got plenty of time. Whether you like or not you're going to have to be interrogated, you've been away for three years. And don't think you're getting out of this without some form of punishment!"

By the look on her face he knew she was serious and a frown formed on Naruto's face. "Three-and-a-half years." he corrected. Another ANBU team entered the room. The first thing they did was tie Naruto's hands together. "You're lucky I'm letting them take me!" And with that said, he complied as they escorted him out of the room and to the interrogations room of the building. Naruto put his head down and sighed. 'Maybe coming back wasn't the best idea.'


	4. Ch 4 The Short Battle

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I really couldn't think of any clever way of going about this. Shame.

Notes: Sorry for the delay, I wasn't really sure how to go about this chapter, but I hope you enjoy! Also, if you see any typos or things that just don't seem to logically fit, let me know in a review. I reread the last chapter and had to fix several typos and word-choices, so feel free to point it out.

-- Chapter 4: The Short Battle --

Sakura stood timidly in the Hokage's office. Timid was the last word that anyone would use to describe her, but that's exactly how she stood. Her eyes wandered around the office. The walls were painted a strange green, much like the color that the Tsunade herself wore on her jacket. One wall was covered with the portraits of all the Hokages at their prime. The desk that was in front was made of a dark brownish-red wood, smoothed and glossed to perfection. On the desk sat stacks of papers, each one serving some different purpose, varying from mission requests to lists of students in the academy. Toward the site there were three picture frames, each containing the picture of one person. The first was Nawaki, Tsunade's younger, deceased brother. The second was Dan, Tsunade's deceased fiance. The third was Uzumaki Naruto, the number one unpredictable ninja that had left the village.

The guilt rose in her throat as she saw the photo of Naruto. It had been her fault that he had left and that she had been unsuccessful in her most recent attempt to bring him back. She had been in too much of a state of wonder to even attempt to do anything to stop him when she saw him. Instead of pursuing him when he fled, she went to Kakashi, and as such lost one of her chances to capture him. That had been only four months ago. Now she was in the Hokage's office, waiting for both Tsunade and Kakashi. Sai was already there, but his lack of emotion left only silence in the room with them. She was there to report on the status of her previous mission. She was puzzled by Kakashi's intermission of reporting the mission. Under normal circumstances he accompanied them and they immediately passed on the details. On their return he had received a messenger bird, and only he was allowed to view the details.

Tsunade entered the office, exhaling deeply to relieve her vexation. Sitting down at her desk, she asked "What are the results?"

Sakura responded, "The trip to the sand went well enough. Our diplomats were attacked by some remaining Sound-nin on the way, but Kakashi, Sai, and myself were able to fend them off. Upon reaching Suna everything went exactly as it was expected. The message was delivered and the proposal was accepted; the diplomats will explain the details of that business. No enemy ninja were encountered on the return to Konoha. In short, the mission was a success."

Tsunade nodded, and paid both of them for the mission." Remind Kakashi to pick up his pay, and both of you are dismissed." Sakura returned the nod and left. She had to become stronger, otherwise she could have been raped and killed. If Naruto had not shown up, she would have been screwed. Since then she worked twice as hard to develop her skills. His elemental recomposition was incredible, whereas hers could only be called fair. The speed of his attacks was just as incredible; one second she was about to be killed and the next her attackers were dead.

Sakura sparred against others to test just how good she was. She won against Sai, but only sometimes. Not once had she managed to defeat 'Copy Ninja Kakashi,' he was invincible to her. He could dodge all of her attacks with his Sharingan, and even without he was quick and had a huge library of jutsus in his head. Her superhuman strength just wasn't enough, and Sakura was beginning to realize this. She could summon slugs, like her sensei, but they weren't very practical in sparring or regular battles. The times they helped most were against other summons, which Sakura had yet to face.

Today, Sakura would train her primary element, water. While it did not have many uses in battle directly, because water does not deal damage, like fire, water, and wind. The only way to make it do large amounts of damage would be to create a flood, which took enormous amounts of chakra, amounts that Sakura did not have. However it did have many practical uses, it strengthened her water jutsus that Kakashi taught her, and it allowed her to use them away from a water source. It improved her healing abilities, but even those did not help her kill others.

As such, Sakura hoped to learn it so that she could use it in conjunction with the lightning element. Together her attacks would be far more deadly, and she would be able to use them in a direct form. However, she had yet to even master the water element, which would be necessary to do this, which is exactly why it was her training.

Sakura went to team seven's usual training ground. Standing in the field she looked down at her hands, which were held up with the fingers and palms slightly defining a semi-spheres. She focused chakra into her palms and imagined a wave-motion, which helped her to recompose it. After a minute water began to generate in each palm, filling up the invisible spheres that she had defined. Finally, two perfect balls of water floated above each of her hands. Sakura sighed in both relief and vexation, she had gotten the chakra to recompose, yes, but two balls of water couldn't do much more than soak someone.

A group of people was coming, Sakura could hear them. She turned to see who it was. There was Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, and someone who she didn't recognize. She looked closer. 'Wait. Spiky blond hair, blue eyes, and,' she paused, 'whiskers? No way.' "Naruto?" The spherical container lost its control and the water fell, splashing on her hands.

The blond lifted his head up to look at the girl. "Sakura?"

Sakura ran over to the group and examined Naruto more closely, before proclaiming, "It is you!" She threw her arms around him and Naruto developed the most quaint look on his face. It was a mix of surprise, and relief for not being punched; it said what the hell is this woman doing with her arms wrapped around me. He began to return the hug, but as soon as he did, she pulled back. Her hand crunched into a fist and she swung at his face, yelling "Damn you Naruto!"

Naruto's face changed once again, dropping the relief and leaving just the surprise. 'Women,' he muttered in his mind, as he side-stepped. This caused Sakura to fall forward, as she put a lot of her body into the punch, and her momentum was too great. At the last moment, Naruto caught her, and put her back on her feet. "Careful Sakura," he said calmly.

'Damn, he is fast.' "Ehehe," sakura laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head, much like Naruto used to do. She wasn't used to missing, and it kind of ruined the emphasis. "Seriously though Naruto, why did you go?"

"Let's just say I needed to get away for a while. Anyways, I'm about to spar against Kakashi and Jiraiya, you can watch if you want, or if Tsunade doesn't mind you can join in against me."

"Wait, you're sparring against Kakashi and Jiraiya at the same time?" Sakura seemed rather shocked, while Naruto looked completely nonchalant.

"Are you forgetting that I've been training for the last three years? With shadow clones included thats about a thousand years of training."

Everyone looked at him, not realizing that he had that much experience. "Well let's begin then," he continued, "Are you going to join us Sakura?"

As much as Sakura wanted to watch the battle that was about to happen, she got the feeling that Jiraiya and Kakashi would need as much help as they could get. "Sure." And with this, the fighters went to the center of the field, while Tsunade and Shizune stayed off to the side, near the wooded area. Naruto bowed, and his opponents returned the courtesy. Blue chakra armor began forming around Naruto immediately, which just left his watchers in shock. Sakura was familiar with this, only she was the one being protected previously. However, it was when Naruto began hovering that everyone completely lost it. Only Kakashi could see how Naruto was doing it, and he was impressed. 'The kid has come up with some really good jutsus,' he thought.

"Most of my own techniques are fatal," Naruto said, "so I'm afraid you can't see them yet. Since I don't want to injure any of you, I will be using mostly taijutsu. Be warned, even without most of my jutsus I am still dangerous. Watch out, I'm ready."

The trio each took a fighting stance, and grouped into a tight triangular formation. Naruto dashed forward at high speeds, readying his fists for action. As his swung at Jiraiya, it was Kakashi that blocked. 'It's that Sharingan. Only he can read my attacks enough to block, everyone else is helpless against them,' Naruto thought.

Jiraiya was forming seals, and Naruto wondered what he was preparing for. Finally, Jiraiya used the technique, it was the hell swamp. Normally Naruto would have been instantly trapped in its clutches, but the ability to hover stopped that. However, the swamp was tiring his energy, as it took a lot more effort to hover over a swamp than dry land. Naruto jumped out of the swamp. He once more rushed at the group. This time he created three wind kunai and launched them at the group. Kakashi managed to move the group away from the kunai that only he could see, but could not block Naruto's own attacks. Naruto disabled Kakashi with a few hits to the head and chest.

He danced away before Sakura or Jiraiya could counter-attack. Jiraiya and Sakura used earth and water techniques respectively, in an attempt to hit Naruto. However Naruto's shielding was able to take most of the attacks, and the ones that he could he simply cut through using the wind. His natural element really had been ideal.

Naruto could have knocked out the remaining two with only taijutsu, but he wanted to at least show some knowledge that he gained during his three year departure. It was one of his more recent techniques, and as such one of his less powerful ones. He ran toward the pair with his full speed. He began recomposing the chakra armor around him into another element, lightning. It was the third element that he learned to manipulate, but the first and second were far to destructive for this.

As he reached the two he struck them quickly, whether they blocked or not did not matter at this point. The jolt of the electricity temporarily paralyzed each one, and they fell to the ground. Naruto turned to Tsunade and said, "It's over. Kakashi needs to be healed and that is one of the things that I don't know about." Tsunade nodded. Both she and Shizune made their way toward the ninja. They quickly fixed any damage Naruto had done to Kakashi, which was mostly flesh wounds. After finishing, they turned to the remaining two. "It's alright," Naruto said, "They'll be able to move in another few seconds." He was right, each got up.

After the battle there wasn't a person there who wasn't shocked, aside from Naruto. He had just defeated three of Konoha's best, at the same time. "Well done Naruto," said Tsunade, "But don't think that you're getting out of that punishment yet. I've got just the job to make you regret having left at all." Hearing this, Naruto cast his head down in disappointment. 'How bittersweet,' he thought.

He congratulated the three on a well-fought battle, though they seemed to think that they did poorly, but Naruto knew better. Most ninja wouldn't have come close to lasting that long. He left alone toward Ichiraku's, as he had yet to even have the chance to grab some ramen. He would be glad to finally get some. 'This,' he thought, 'was definitely worth coming back for.'


	5. Ch 5 Duty

Disclaimer: Me no owny Naruto.

Notes: Don't flip out on me in reviews, I keep my promises. After reading you'll know what I mean, at least I think you will. Any typos or things that seem out of place, please let me know. Thanks!

-- Chapter 5: Duty --

Naruto thoroughly enjoyed his bowl—sorry, bowls—of Ramen. In his mind, no other food or form of Ramen could compare with Ichiraku's, it was simply the best. After paying his compliments to Teuchi and Ayame, Naruto began his trek to see Tsunade. As he saw it, it would be better to get this punishment over as soon as he could. Naruto noted that the attitude the villagers held toward him had not changed much over the years. Their eyes were still cold and harsh, but at the same time fearful of him. Anyone without trained hearing wouldn't have heard a word that they said; Naruto's hearing was probably the best in the city. They hated his guts and he knew it, but he would still protect them, even with his life. It had always been his dream to protect those people, even when he knew they would rather see him dead than alive. It was only once he could protect them all that they would recognize him as who he was, and not Kyuubi. That is why Naruto walked with a slight gentle smile on his face, to show that while they despised him, he cared.

Further up the street, Naruto saw a beast of a man, or rather, a young man. He immediately identified him as Akimichi Chouji. Naruto called out to him, who, at the sound of his name, turned his round-bellied body around to see who it was. At first he thought his eyes were lying, because surely it couldn't be the kid who he hadn't seen in three years, the one who left the village. But as he looked closer he saw that it was; it was Naruto.

"Naruto?" He asked, still in slight shock.

"Yeah, it's me. I just got back the other day," he said as though he had only gone on a vacation. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good I guess, what about you?"

"Oh, alright. Tsunade's been bitching about how I need some form of punishment for leaving."

Two people stepped out of a building, and one of them said, "She's right, tracking you was really troublesome. Somehow you managed to evade all of us."

"Anything is troublesome for you, Shikamaru." Naruto nodded at him, and the other person, before saying, "Ino." Ino examined Naruto, surprised by how good looking he was. When her eyes met his, she started to blush, realizing that she had just been staring at him, and hadn't even said anything yet. What she didn't know is that he had been doing the exact same thing, and he was surprised by how beautiful she had gotten.

"Naruto," she began, "It's good to see you, but Shikamaru is right. It was really annoying trying to find you. How did you manage to stay hidden for three years?"

"Yeah, well, what would that say about me if I got caught by you guys?" he joked, but earned glares from his three friends. He held his hands up in defense, "Just kidding. But I learned ways to keep myself relatively invisible on the map."

"Hmm." They replied. Shikamaru continued, "Well we've got to get going, We've got a mission to the sand."

"Yeah," Ino teased, "So Shikamaru can go see his girlfriend."

"Hmph," Shikamaru said, "Anyways, see you later Naruto." The group turned to leave.

"Ino." Naruto said. She turned around.

"Mm?"

"When you guys get back, would you like to go on a date?" This shocked everyone there. Last time they had seen him, he had been a hardcore Sakura fan, but now he was asking out Ino. 'Since when did he have the guts to ask a girl out without stuttering anyways?' they wondered. Ino's mind, on the other hand, was thinking on a different stretch. She was surprised that Naruto, one day coming back, looked amazing and was asking her out. Not to mention that he had matured, at least so it seemed to her.

"Sure," she said, trying to play it cool. He smiled and waved as she turned around again, and she waved back, also smiling.

As they left, Naruto went back to his original task of going to see Tsunade. He found her in her office, sitting behind stacks of paper, and quickly trying to stuff away a bottle of sake before anyone caught her. Naruto, however, did not need to see the bottle to know what it was, he could smell it in the air.

"You know, Hokages really aren't supposed to be drinking, especially not on the job."

"Shut it brat!"

"I'm not really sure I like that nickname, baa-chan." The glare from this would have made any normal person piss their pants, but calling Uzumaki Naruto normal would be a stretch of the imagination.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I would like to get that punishment done so that you can't hold it over my head later on."

"Are you sure you don't want a day or two to rest up? It's going to be quite the job."

"It's only twelve in the middle of the day, I'm not even close to tired. Let me know what it is."

"I'm hoping that you'll be able to get it over by the end of the day, as it shouldn't take you too long with shadow clones. Anyways, on to the details. Not to long ago the pipes and concrete separating the fresh water from the sewer water were broken. As of now there is a rather large break in the pipes and walls, around eight meters long. Due to this, about a fourth of the city has been without fresh water for a few days. We were unable to to cut off water to that section of the village without cutting it off for most of the village, so there is also constantly water moving throughout these pipes."

"But if that's how it is then I'll drown."

"You'll have to build some form of dam down in the pipes until you finish the work."

"This is going to take around a thousand shadow clones between the dam, moving the materials, preparing them, and using them. While this may only be one day, this is three years worth of work, and that means I'm going to experience three years of being in the sewers because of my clones. You're evil!"

Tsunade was sporting a wicked grin. "You don't even know the half of it. I'll have some men take you around to show where everything is so you can get started. Have fun!" Naruto looked as though he had just been told the world was going to end in five minutes. Drudgingly Naruto went to the area that Tsunade had told him to go, in order to meet the person who was going to inform him. This was definitely not going to be fun.

---

Sakura was having a hell of a day. Finding out that Naruto had returned left her in quite a bit of shock, especially since she found out directly and had no way to prepare herself for the encounter. All that she could manage to do was end up acting like her old self, or at least the way she used to around Naruto.

Then she ends up battling Naruto, and not landing in a single hit, at least not one that did any damage. And of course, at the end he ends up temporarily paralyzing her. That seemed to be a recurring element in the past few months. She was still feeling a little bit out of whack from the lightning attack. Right now she was lying on her bed in her apartment, trying to shake the nauseating feel, as her healing jutsu couldn't fix the problem, it was simply a matter of time.

Her thoughts drifted back to Naruto. He had avoided bringing up their last conversation when she asked why he left. She knew that she had more to do with his leaving than him needing to "just get away for a while." Sakura figured that she must have been the final straw, the last one that tipped him over the edge. Although more realistically, her part was more like a brick than a straw. Naruto was already carrying a mountain on his back between Kyuubi and the villagers. She remembered the words that she had said to him, or rather called him. Her mouth was turning dry just from the thought. Sasuke's death had been the drive behind all of the cruel things she said.

Sakura knew she should apologize to Naruto, even if he had already forgiven her or forgotten. Though she knew that he couldn't have forgotten, and forgiveness was unlikely. It was more likely that he was just being friendly, and once again caring about others' emotions more than his own. Even after Sasuke's death he was looking after Sakura, trying to patch their friendship and worrying about how she felt.

But now that he was back, she wondered how things would be between them. He certainly hadn't gone out of his way trying to find her, and only came upon her by chance. She assumed that he had some form of attachment to her though, because otherwise he wouldn't have saved her from the two ninja four months ago. Although after seeing those two in the bingo book, she couldn't be sure whether he was just claiming them as a bounty or not. Ninja generally did not like casualties, it brought attention to their work, which certainly wasn't a good thing. Going out of his way to protect her using chakra would be quite the inconvenience though, even by ninja standards.

She needed to talk with him, but she certainly wasn't up for it now, and even when she was, she had no idea where to begin. She got up out of the bed carefully, not wanting to fall from the dizziness, and moved into the kitchen. She made soup, chicken noodle to be precise. There was nothing better than soup for cooling nerves and getting better physically, both of which she needed to do right now. She wasn't really hungry, but she forced it down.

She had to get better so that she could go out that night to talk to Tsunade and Kakashi. They were the two people who she trusted most and who knew Naruto the best. Between both of them she was sure that she might find some good advice for dealing with the problem that she had with Naruto. She finished her soup, put away the bowl, and proceeded to walk out the door into the cool night air.

---

Naruto was exhausted. Fixing the water system had taken most of the day. He hadn't expected his punishment to be anything like that, but more like something along the lines of basic community service. Picking up trash, things like that. But no, Tsunade had to give him some annoying job that took insane amounts of clones to do.

He walked to the Yamanaka flower shop, ignoring any looks he got, which was quite a few. As of now his clothes were looking very raggedy. He walked in and ordered.

"A dozen white roses please, Yamanaka-san."

Ino's mother rang him up and got the flowers ready. "Who's the lucky lady?" she asked.

"They're not for a girl," he said.

"Hmm," she responded. She passed him the flowers.

"Thanks." With the flowers in hand he walked out the door. He went to the one place he had yet to visit, or the one important place, which was Sasuke's grave. He set the flowers done against the tombstone.

"Hey," he began. "I've gotten a lot stronger. If we had fought now instead of three years ago, things would be different. You'd be here, alive, and I wouldn't have had to leave, not that I'm blaming you. It was my fault that I couldn't control Kyuubi, and I recognize that. But now, he won't harm anyone anymore. Most of all, I just want to say that I'm sorry I couldn't stop you. Stop you from leaving, stop you from becoming consumed by hate. If I could have, neither of us would be in the positions we are now. I'm sorry."

Naruto walked with his thoughts clouded toward his apartment. He was tired, and he needed rest.


End file.
